The Citizen’s Charter
The Citizen’s Charter , originally launched in 1991, was set up with the aim of improving the quality and responsiveness of public services. People have no choice about whether they use a public service, for example, they cannot choose their local authority, their fire service or their Tax office. Therefore, the Conservative government believed that something had to be done to put the public sector under some sort of pressure, to improve its services. The Citizen’s Charter was re-launched and re-branded on the 30th of June 1998 by the Charter Unit of the Cabinet Office, under the name ‘Service First - The New Citizen’s Charter’ and as a part of the Better Government initiative. The Service first initiative was designed to raise standards of public service through the use of the following nine principles: to set standards of service; be open and provide full information; consult and involve; encourage access and the promotion of choice; treat all fairly; put things right when they go wrong; use resources effectively; innovate and improve; and work with other providers. Examples of charters include the introduction by the Inland Revenue of the ‘Taxpayers’ Charter’, the ‘Council Tenants’ Charter’, Charter
In a report on the Citizen’s Charter programme the House of Commons’ Public Service Select Committee identified three current dilemmas in the Citizen’s Charter process. The first was the extent to which localization and consultation with users can be allowed to slacken central control and direction of the process. This reflects the tensions that have arisen between the top-down approach and the bottom-up empowerment of consumers and front-line staff. Secondly there was concern relating to the techniques and purposes of performance evaluation. Once more, this reflects widespread concerns about the production and use of comparative league tables of institutional performance, for example, the publication of school league tables based on examination results. The third was whether a particular level or type of service can be promised and guaranteed as a right without confronting wider considerations about the character and funding of public services. The argument that the government was confusing citizens with consumers is quite legitimate. Firstly the consumer has available to them the ultimate sanction of legal action and if government was serious about empowering citizens as consumers then they should have made the Citizen’s Charter legally enforceable. In addition the idea of a market place and the empowering of citizens as consumers can not be left to operate where a lot of public services are monopolies or quasi-monopolies.
Some topics in this essay:
Citizen’s Charter,
Five Deakin’s,
Charter’ Government,
Charters Education,
citizen’s charter,
Prime Minister,
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW,
public services,
CITIZEN’S CHARTER,
ADMISTRATIVE LAW,
Administration PCA,
Inland Revenue,
public service,
citizens consumers,
‘the citizen’s,
services citizen’s,
services citizen’s charter,
‘the citizen’s charter,
active citizenship,
consumers citizen’s charter,
consumers citizen’s,
raise standards,
sector management,
public service select,
national consumer council,
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Approximate Word count = 1507
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
CUSTOMER SERVICES
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